Department for Transport

A417: Gloucestershire

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many road traffic accidents have been recorded over the last five years on the area of the A417 in Gloucestershire for which an upgrade is planned in 2020.

Andrew Jones: Highways England is starting full-scale options work on the A417 Missing Link ‘Air Balloon’ roundabout scheme this financial year (2016/17), with the intention that the scheme will be ready to start construction as early as possible in the next Road Investment Strategy period which starts on 1 April 2020. A total of 65 personal injury road accidents were reported to the police between 2010 and 2014 in the vicinity of the A417 scheme. The number of reported personal injury road accidents per year by severity are as follows:  FatalSeriousSlightTotal201011141620111091020120213152013224820142311165yr total685165  Figures for 2015 will be published on 30th June 2016.

Travel: Concessions

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will extend the English national concessionary travel scheme for disabled people beyond off-peak times.

Andrew Jones: Whilst I appreciate that concessionary pass holders might wish to use buses before 9.30am, there are no plans to extend the statutory scheme to include morning peak time travel. Local authorities already have powers to introduce “discretionary concessions” building on the minimum national standard. Authorities can, for instance, enable some disabled pass holders to use services during peak hours, to use modes of transport other than buses or to travel with a companion free of charge. Such enhancements are however, entirely a matter for the respective authorities and are funded locally. It follows that any decision on whether to create such enhancements is a matter for the authority concerned.

Cycling: Commuters

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government has taken to promote cycling to work.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We support the Cycle to Work scheme which allows employers to loan bicycle and bicycle safety equipment to employees free of any income tax liability. The Department has produced guidelines to encourage employers to take advantage of this exemption so that employees can loan affordable equipment enabling them to cycle to work. The Department also helps people to cycle to work, for instance, by providing funding to local authorities through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund and Cycle Ambition Cities fund which can be used to improve local cycling provisions, provide safer cycle routes and increase cycle parking facilities.

Cycling

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a bicycle highway code.

Andrew Jones: Sections 59 – 82 of the Highway Code cover “Rules for Cyclists” which includes sections on road junctions, roundabouts and crossing the road. In addition Annex 1 of the code “You and your bike” covers information and rules about you and using your bicycle on the road. There are no plans to publish a cycling specific excerpt of the Highway Code. To help cyclists further, the Department is providing £50 million over the next four years to support Bikeability cycle training in schools in England (outside London). This funding will help to increase children's road awareness, encourage active travel and improve future motorists’ empathy for more vulnerable road users.

Cycling: Safety Measures

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to promote awareness among cyclists of the importance of wearing helmets and visible clothing.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The safety of vulnerable road users is a priority and we recommend that all cyclists wear clothing that makes them sufficiently visible to other road users.Rule 59 of the Highway Code states, “You should wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light; reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark”. Government policy is that cycle helmets offer a degree of protection for cyclists in the event of a fall from a bicycle and some types of collisions. In line with the Highway Code rule 59 which states “you should wear a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened” we encourage their use by all cyclists and in particular by children.

Cycling: Per Capita Costs

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average annual spend on cycling per head is in each of the Cycle Ambition Cities on the most recent date for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Cycling Cities Ambition Grants 2015/16 through to 2017/18Birmingham £10.00Bristol£11.78Cambridge£12.87Leeds£10.09Manchester£11.52Newcastle£10.43Norwich£13.46Oxford £10.66 The above table reflects the Department’s Cycling Cities Ambition grants and local match funding. There may be other funding programmes which would increase the Cycling Ambition Cities figures provided in the table above, but we do not hold information on details such as spend per head for these programmes.

Railway Stations: Disability

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, at which stations Network Rail plans to defer Access to All works from Control Period 5 into Control Period 6.

Claire Perry: The Access for All programme was‎ reviewed as part of Sir Peter Hendy’s report into Network Rail’s investment programme for Control Period 5 (2014-2019). We are currently considering consultation responses to the report and working with Network Rail to decide which stations may be affected.

Transport: EU Grants and Loans

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the total value of loan and grant funding from EU institutions for transport projects in the UK in the last 10 years.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The European Budget has a number of mechanisms for providing grant funding to transport projects including the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) and the Horizon 2020 Research Programme. The Department has responsibility for UK involvement in the Transport component of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and its predecessor the Trans- European Transport Network (TEN-T). ERDF and the Horizon 2020 programmes are the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. From 2006 – 2013 the UK was involved in 53 projects that were awarded over €280 million in funding from the TEN-T programme. Since the start of the CEF in 2014 the UK has been involved in 30 projects that were awarded around €190 million in funding. A full list of transport projects (involving UK participants) that have been awarded funding from the CEF and the TEN-T programme is available on the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency web-site:TEN-Thttps://ec.europa.eu/inea/ten-t/ten-t-projects/projects-by-country/united-kingdomCEFhttps://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-transport/projects-by-country/united-kingdom The web-site includes an overview of the project, the participants, the implementation schedule and the amount of funding awarded.Information on loans made to UK transport projects by the European Investment Bank (EIB) is available on their website.http://www.eib.org/projects/loans/sectors/transports.htm

Transport: Apprentices

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices were employed by (a) Network Rail, (b) Highways England or the Highways Agency and (c) HS2 Ltd on 15 March in each year from 2010 to 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The numbers of apprentices employed directly by Network Rail, Highways England or the Highways Agency, and HS2 Ltd. over the requested time period are set out below. YearNetwork RailHS2 Ltd.*Highways England / Highways Agency20106550 20116500 20126070 2013610024201459244320156061712016398**052* For HS2 Ltd, the majority of employment and apprenticeship opportunities will be provided through the supply chain. Construction is due to begin in 2017, following Royal Assent.**plus a further 150 to start in September 2016 at level 3, and upwards of 100+ across other levels 2 to 7Looking forward over this Parliament to 2020, the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (January 2016) sets out our ambition to create 30,000 apprenticeships in the roads and rail sectors by 2020, in support of this government’s unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure. This target includes the Department for Transport, its Agencies and infrastructure client bodies – Crossrail, Transport for London, Highways England Network Rail and HS2 Ltd, as well as each of their supply chains. Depending on the contract, suppliers will either create one apprenticeship for every £3 to £5m of taxpayers’ money spent, or increase the number of apprentices employed each year through the lifetime of the contract. In these cases the aim is that the number of apprenticeships created each year will equal 2.5% of the workforce.

Network Rail: Standards

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress Network Rail has made on meeting the 19.4 per cent efficiency target set by the Office of Rail and Road for the investment period 2014 to 2019.

Claire Perry: The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR’s) Annual Efficiency and Finance Assessment of Network Rail for 2014-15 is available here: http://orr.gov.uk/what-and-how-we-regulate/regulation-of-network-rail/monitoring-performance/efficiency-and-finance-assess. The ORR’s next assessment of Network Rail’s efficiency, for the year 2015-16, will be published later this year.

Network Rail: Property

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the new Network Rail Property company will have responsibility for disposing of any part of Network Rail's operational estate.

Claire Perry: Before disposing of any asset, Network Rail will have to satisfy its Board, the Secretary of State and the regulator that it is safeguarding the current and future requirements, including operational needs, of the railway. Network Rail’s enhanced property business will lead on disposals.

Home Office

Police: Finance

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the Fourth Report of the Home Affairs Committee, on Reform of the Police Funding Formula, HC 476.

Mike Penning: We will respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report as soon as we are in a position to do so.We have noted the Committee’s recommendations and are taking them into account as we consider the options for how best to take forward the work on the police funding formula.

Greater Manchester Police: Finance

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned future budget reductions on the ability of the Greater Manchester police to fund implementation in Manchester of national projects.

Mike Penning: As the Chancellor announced at the Spending Review no Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) will receive a reduction in cash funding if they choose to maximise their precept over the Spending Review period.It is an operational decision for chief officers, working with their PCC, to determine how best to allocate their available resources taking into account local and national priorities.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Overseas Workers: Conditions of Employment

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what checks his Department undertakes to ensure that EU Missions  are compliant with all European labour laws and that such missions have proper grievance procedures in place for complaints by staff seconded by the UK and other EU member states.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that the employment rights of staff members seconded to or working within international organisations are protected.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) supports outward secondments that develop the skills and experience of our staff. Our staff are encouraged to take up opportunities where the work is in line with the FCO’s strategic priorities.The terms and conditions of employees working for international organisations are set by the organisation they work for during the secondment. The host organisation also takes responsibility for ensuring the duty of care to our secondees is properly discharged and that their working conditions are satisfactory. This would include having proper grievance procedures in place. The FCO takes this into account when agreeing to a secondment, and individual volunteers are expected to satisfy themselves that they are aware of any differences between the two organisations terms and conditions before agreeing any contract. Secondees remain our employees during their secondments and continue to enjoy the protection of their employment rights with the FCO.

Tibet: Ethnic Groups

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) native Tibetans, (b) Han Chinese and (c) others who were resident in Tibet in (i) 2015, (ii) 2005 and (iii) 1995.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Government does not collect this data.

Tibet: Religious Persons

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on whether decisions on the reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas should made made by the Tibetan people.

Mr Hugo Swire: The Government does not have a policy on the reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas. We believe that everyone should be free to practise their religion according to their beliefs, and that all states should guarantee this freedom in line with international and domestic commitments.

Piracy

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure British citizens employed on international marine vessels are not arrested for entering the territorial waters of a country with incorrect paperwork for arms held on the ship to combat pirates.

James Duddridge: It is the responsibility of employers and employees to ensure that they hold the correct paperwork for any arms held. The Department for Transport's advice to UK flagged vessels employing Private Maritime Security Companies (PMSC) on board their ships is that the PMSC has, amongst other things: access to legal advice, given the imprecise position of armed guards under various national jurisdictions and international law; and an understanding of port State and coastal State laws and requirements with respect to the possession, carriage, and movement of firearms, ammunition and other security related equipment (such as body armour).The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills trade controls in the private armed sector apply to UK companies operating in the UK, and to UK nationals working for non UK companies. The use of the Open Government Trade Control License Maritime Anti-Piracy ensures that companies operating in the sector do so in adherence to industry standards and international law.

Weapons: Proliferation

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what financial contributions his Department has made to the activities of (a) the International Atomic Energy Agency, (b) the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation, (c) the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, (d) the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and (e) the Arms Trade Treaty in each of the last six years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made the following financial contributions over the last six years.International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) = £2,127,798.Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation = £152,800.Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty = £487,547.Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention = £304,372.Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) = £187,254.Additionally over this period the FCO has contributed over £2.5 million to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism into the use of chemical weapons in Syria. This does not include the UK subscription which is paid by DECC.We have also supported projects in support of these treaties and organisations. For example the FCO has funded a number of projects over the years aimed at assisting countries to sign and ratify the ATT.

Macedonia: Human Rights

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Macedonia.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Trade Union Bill

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the applicability of the provisions of the Trade Union Bill to officials of the devolved administrations.

Nick Boles: Holding answer received on 27 April 2016



The Trade Union Act 2016 is about employment and industrial relations law, which are reserved matters. The Act will apply to public sector officials across Great Britain in the same manner, and therefore no specific assessment has been made of its applicability to officials of the devolved administrations.

Trade Union Bill

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the applicability of the provisions of the Trade Union Bill to officials of the devolved administrations.

Nick Boles: Holding answer received on 27 April 2016



The Trade Union Act 2016 is about employment and industrial relations law, which are reserved matters. The Act will apply to public sector officials across Great Britain in the same manner, and therefore no specific assessment has been made of its applicability to officials of the devolved administrations.

Counter-terrorism: Conferences

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what involvement (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department had in the Security and Counter Terror Conference at Olympia on 19 and 20 April 2016.

Anna Soubry: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Ministers had no involvement in the Security and Counter Terror Conference at Olympia. Although officials had no formal involvement in the organisation of the conference, the Export Control Organisation had a stand to gather feedback from exporters about the development of a new digital export licensing system. In addition a number of officials from UKTI Defence & Security Organisation attended as delegates.

Antidumping: China

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has made to the World Trade Organisation to request that anti-dumping measures are taken against the People's Republic of China.

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the UK has taken to support increased tariffs on artificially cheap steel imports to the EU.

Anna Soubry: The World Trade Organisation does not have a role in conducting anti-dumping investigations. Responsibility for anti-dumping investigations and imposing anti-dumping measures against imports into the EU and the UK lies with the European Commission. These investigations are driven by requests from EU producers. The Government makes regular representations to the Commission concerning allegations of dumping of steel. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister pressed for more action on dumping of steel at European Council on 17 and 18 March. The government judges each anti-dumping case on its merits, based on the evidence presented by the Commission and on representations from interested parties, including producers, users and importers, but is strongly in favour of effective trade defences to tackle unfair trade practices where justified. We have voted in favour of anti-dumping measures on several steel products since July, including the imposition of provisional anti-dumping measures on reinforcing bar in January, an investigation for which we lobbied the Commission successfully, and on cold-rolled flat steel products in February. We have supported industry calls for higher duties on specific cases where this is justified by the evidence. For example, in the reinforcing bar case we have raised the steel industry’s concerns that the provisional duties were too low with the Commission. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke with Trade Commissioner Malmström about this and received assurances that the Commission will reconsider this during the definitive stage of the investigation, if industry can provide the necessary evidence. We also welcomed the opening of four new anti-dumping investigations involving steel products earlier this year. The Government continues to push the Commission for faster, more effective action to deal with dumping of steel. This was one of the conclusions of the Extraordinary Competitiveness Council on Steel in November, a meeting which my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was instrumental in convening. In advance of the Commission’s energy-intensive industry stakeholder’s summit on 15 February – another key action from the Competitiveness Council – the government and several other EU Member States sent a joint letter to the Commission, pressing it to make full and timely use of all trade defence instruments to tackle unfair trade. I played an active role at this summit. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has also raised these issues in discussions with Commissioner Malmström, most recently at the OECD conference on the challenges facing the steel industry on 18 April. My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) (Intellectual Property) reiterated the need for faster and more effective action on dumping at the Competitiveness Council held on 29 February and the Presidency conclusions of that Council reflected this message. I did likewise at the European Steel Day on 21 April. Officials also have regular discussions about anti-dumping cases with Commission officials and officials from other EU Member States. The Government is also supporting a robust discussion of the issue of overcapacity through the EU’s ongoing dialogue with the Chinese and other governments, including at the OECD conference. My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has discussed this issue directly with President Xi and was told that China will take steps to reduce its overcapacity. My Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer also raised it during his visit to China in February and my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills raised it with his counterpart in February. Similarly, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs raised it during his visit to China in April.

Iron and Steel: China

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many metric tonnes of Chinese rebar steel have been imported into the UK in each of the last five years.

Anna Soubry: The volume of rebar steel imported to the UK from China during the period 2011-2015 was as follows: Year Metric Tonnes 2011 62012 22013 47,8032014 254,5842015 365,449Source:HMRC For 2016, data from the EU’s Steel Surveillance 2[1] Monitoring System indicates that 43 tonnes were imported to the UK during the first quarter.  [1] The Surveillance 2 system collects data directly from import customs declarations. This data relates to the reference of the customs declaration, the nature of the goods, their origin, their volume, their value and their date of acceptance by the customs administration (actual import date). Records are sent daily by the central systems of the customs administrations of the EU Member States. It is based on article 308d of the implementing provisions of the Custom Code (Regulation 2454/93

Apprentices: Disability

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the oral contribution of 25 April 2016, Official Report, column 1131, which groups he (a) has met with and (b) plans to meet with to discuss the importance of apprenticeships and other technical education for young people with disabilities.

Nick Boles: Holding answer received on 04 May 2016



  I have held discussions with the Alliance for Inclusive Education and Access Bedford. Work is currently ongoing with the Department for Work and Pensions to identity further groups, including charities, employer and training provider representatives, to engage with on these important issues. I have met with a number of hon Members and their constituents to discuss the matter and will be holding a roundtable on engaging individuals with learning difficulties and disabilities in apprenticeships in the near future.

Directors: Misconduct

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases of alleged malpractice by directors of companies the Insolvency Service investigated in each year since 2009; and in each of those years how many directors of such companies were disqualified from practising on account of offences committed (a) in the UK and (b) abroad.

Anna Soubry: When a company enters into formal insolvency proceedings, the insolvency practitioner (IP) has to file a report on the conduct of the directors unless an official receiver is in office; and each of those reports is assessed by the Insolvency Service to determine if a more detailed investigation is appropriate. When a company enters into compulsory liquidation, although this is not itself an indication of misconduct, the official receiver will in all cases make enquiries to determine the cause of insolvency and the conduct of the directors of the company. The number of reports of misconduct submitted by IPs is detailed in the table below, alongside the total number of compulsory liquidations each year. Reporting yearIP reports of misconductCompulsory liquidationsTotal disqualifications09/107,0305,4181,38610/115,3734,5731,45311/125,4015,1251,16512/135,3354,0011,03413/144,6713,7341,28214/154,6203,5881,21015/164,2772,778*810 *Disqualifications in the period from April 2015 to December 2015, the latest period for which official statistics are available. All of these cases relate to companies based in and trading in the UK. In many cases, a disqualification will be obtained in a period subsequent to the submission of a report or the insolvency of the company. Each case may encompass a number of directors.

Companies: Registration

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of companies newly registered with Companies House have been (i) directly incorporated and (ii) set up by third parties such as trust or company service providers in each year since 2004; and in each of those years how many complaints Companies House received about the conduct of companies in each group.

Anna Soubry: Companies House does not hold the information requested. Newly incorporated companies are not categorised on the basis of whether they were formed directly or by a third party such as a Trust or Company Service Provider.

Directors: Misconduct

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many referrals the Insolvency Service received from (a) each of the sectoral regulators and (b) any other third party for alleged malpractice by directors of companies in each year since 2009.

Anna Soubry: The number of complaints received about live companies, and the number of reports received about insolvent companies from insolvency practitioners (IPs), is summarised in the table below. No records are kept of the total number of complaints received about insolvent companies and separate figures are not available for complaints received from regulators. Reporting yearNo complaints received about live companiesNo of reports received from IPs09/105,9897,03010/114,8525,37311/123,5235,40112/133,0145,33513/143,6034,67114/153,7914,62015/163,9044,277

King's College London: Antisemitism

Robert Jenrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has had discussions with university vice chancellors on the reported anti-Semitic incident at King's College London on 19 January 2016; and whether any people have been prosecuted for their connection with that incident.

Joseph Johnson: There is no place in our society, including higher education, for bigotry, hatred and any form of racism such as anti-Semitism. We expect universities to act swiftly to investigate and address any anti-Semitic incidents reported to them. Responsibility for ensuring students do not face harassment, abuse or violence rests with individual institutions, as a clear part of their duties under the 2010 Equality Act.In November I asked Universities UK to set up a task force to consider what more can be done to address harassment on campus, including on the basis of religion and belief. The Union of Jewish Students are part of the advisory group. In relation to the event organised by the Kings College Israel Society, officials in my Department and in the Higher Education Funding Council for England asked Kings College what action they had taken in response, and I have met with the Principal to discuss this incident. It is completely unacceptable for legitimate free speech to be shut down on our universities campuses through intimidation and harassment and we will continue to fully support university leaders who take a strong stance on this.

Self-employed: Adoption

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the report entitled, Self-employment review - An independent report by Julie Deane, published in February 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending entitlement to statutory adoption pay to self-employed people.

Anna Soubry: The Government is considering all the recommendations made in Julie Deane’s independent review of self-employment and will respond in due course.

Animal Experiments

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 373, Applying Results of Experiments on Animals to Human Patients.

George Freeman: The Government considers that the carefully regulated use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving the understanding of how biological systems work and in the development of safe new medicines, treatments and technologies. At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), in particular through funding for the National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), and also through ongoing UK-led efforts to encourage greater global uptake of the 3Rs. Advances in biomedical science and technologies – including stem cell research, in vitro systems that mimic the function of human organs, imaging and new computer modelling techniques – are all providing new opportunities to reduce reliance on the use of animals in research. As part of this Innovate UK, the NC3Rs, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council have produced a Non-animal Technologies Road map for the UK, which offers an approach for the UK to develop, exploit and deploy new non-animal technologies for long-term economic and societal benefit. Integral to this strategy have been two Innovate UK industry-led competitions which have awarded approximately £7m in grant funding; “Developing non-animal technologies” and “Advancing the development and application of non-animal technologies”. EU and UK law requires safety testing on animals before human trials for new medicines can begin and animal research still plays an important role in providing vital safety information for potential new medicines. The Early Day Motion (EDM 373) rightly draws attention to the UK life science sector’s Concordat on openness in animal research which was launched last year, and provides new opportunities for transparency and debate in this area.

Department for Education

Academies: North of England

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take under the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy to expand the best academy chains in the North; what the timetable is for that expansion; and how much funding will be allocated for that expansion.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller's report into transforming education across the Northern Powerhouse.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy plans to fast-track the best (a) schools to become teaching schools and (b) local heads to become national leaders of education.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department intends to support and mentor weaker schools as part of the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to facilitate new academy sponsors in the North as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding she plans to make available for turnaround activity as part of the Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy; and what formula or method she plans to use to allocate funding.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 26 April 2016



Our White Paper, Education Excellence Everywhere, sets out the range of support we will offer to schools across England. Where schools are failing, Regional Schools Commissioners will identify a suitable academy sponsor to turn them around. In areas where there are too few sponsors, we will recruit new sponsors, including high-performing schools and more sponsors from business, charity and philanthropy. We will also encourage existing sponsors to expand, increasing incentives and minimising barriers, learning from the investment we have already made through the Northern Sponsor Fund. For other struggling schools, we will ensure there is nationwide coverage of system leaders (teaching schools and National Leaders of Education), who will be expected to work with weaker schools to support them to improve. To help achieve this, we will improve how we designate system leaders by introducing a more sophisticated approach based on timely and accurate data rather than relying heavily on Ofsted judgements. We will also partner schools with the potential to become strong system leaders with existing teaching schools and National Leaders of Education. Through the Department’s strategy for Achieving Excellence Areas, we will target our existing programmes to secure sufficient high quality teachers, leaders, system leaders, sponsors and members of governing boards on the areas of greatest need. At the Budget, the Government announced that we will invest an additional £20 million a year to build on this strategy to raise education standards across the Northern Powerhouse. The allocation of this funding will depend on the identified need and will be reassessed each year, based on the evidence.For the additional funding announced in the budget, decisions on how the funding will be allocated for the 2016-17 financial year will be made by the autumn of this year and will be informed by the emerging findings of the review by Sir Nick Weller. We will be publishing the terms of reference for Sir Nick Weller’s review shortly.

Education Funding Agency: Staff

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many full-time equivalent staff there were in the Education Funding Agency in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 28 April 2016



The Education Funding Agency (EFA) was established in April 2012, therefore data can only be provided from that date onwards. Please see the table below for details of the number of full time equivalent members of staff in the EFA in April 2012 – April 2015.Month and yearNumber of full time equivalent members of staffApril 2012631April 2013680.2April 2014734.5April 2015822.7

Teachers: Training

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on delivery of initial teacher training of all schools becoming academies.

Nick Gibb: Academies have the same opportunities as maintained schools to become involved in teacher training, either through the School Direct programme, becoming a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider (SCITT), or partnering with a university teacher training provider. Academies also benefit from additional freedoms to recruit subject experts who do not have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), but can add real value to the classroom. Schools that are part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) can also benefit from the ability to use their greater resources to attract the teachers they need. Our proposals to replace QTS with a new, stronger accreditation will mean schools will be able to put those subject experts who have not been through ITT on a pathway to formal accreditation. We expect the vast majority of teachers will continue to train through ITT, particularly as more schools become directly involved in the selection and training of new teachers. 94 per cent of teachers in academies hold QTS, demonstrating that head teachers value high-quality ITT.

GCE A-level

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 2 and 8 February 2016 to Questions 25202 and 23871, and the update provided by Ofqual, what further progress has been made on A levels in (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish, (d) Religious Studies and (e) Geography being approved ready for first teaching from September 2016.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have therefore asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write directly to the Honourable Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

Primary Education

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33991, what proportion of the 644 teachers and head teachers who responded to the 2013 consultation supported the principle of the assessment reforms.

Nick Gibb: The primary school assessment and accountability consultation in 2013 was an important exercise which contributed to the development of our reforms.An analysis of the consultation responses is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/new-national-curriculum-primary-assessment-and-accountability.

Schools: Admissions

Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the practical implications of schools having their own admissions criteria under a fully-academised system; and how local authorities will manage that situation.

Nick Gibb: The schools white paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, sets out the Government’s aim that every school should become an academy. In this context, it also sets out our intention to seek views on a number of changes to the admissions system to support parents in understanding how to get a place at their local schools. As part of this, we will seek views on requiring the Local Authority to take on greater responsibility for certain admissions functions – in particular, co-ordinating in-year admissions and handling the administration of the independent appeal panels for all schools (including academies) in their area. These changes will make the system clearer and simpler for parents to navigate. Any parent who has concerns regarding an individual school’s admission arrangements will continue to be able to refer an objection to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator. We intend to streamline the functions of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator so that objections to admission arrangements are resolved more quickly. The white paper is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/educational-excellence-everywhere.

Department for Education: Written Questions

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of named day written parliamentary questions have been answered after the specified date by each Minister in her Department since May 2015.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education received 787 named-day written parliamentary questions that were due for answer between 1 May 2015 and 28 April 2016. Of these, 675 (86%) received responses on the specified date, 107 (14%) received replies after their specified date and 5 (1%) had passed their specified date and were still awaiting a response when this data was compiled on 3 May 2016. [1]The breakdown by answering minister for the above period was as follows:Answering ministerNumber of named-day PQs due for replyNumber and % answered after the named dayEdward Timpson30243 (14%)Nick Boles358 (23%)Nick Gibb28441 (14%)Nicky Morgan10 (0%)Sam Gyimah16515 (9%)Total787107 (14%) [1] These percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Schools: Finance

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to mitigate the cost to local authorities of schools that are in deficit transferring to academy status.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Education: Finance

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is her Department's policy to provide additional funding to Local Education Authorities for secondary schools if (a) free schools and (b) other new schools open in that area during a financial year.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The department does not provide any additional funding to local authorities in the financial year that a new secondary school is established. We do provide funding to academy trusts to cover essential expenditure to establish a new school before it opens. New schools receive funding for a limited number of years after the school opens to cover the start-up costs associated with running a new school which cannot be met from core funding. Details of these grants can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487778/Free_Schools_application_process_-_background_information_and_glossary.pdf Where a local authority opens a new school (to meet basic need in that area), the local authority is responsible for providing the site for the new school and meeting associated capital and start-up costs, which it is expected to do from its Dedicated Schools Grant allocation and its basic need capital allocation.

Ministry of Justice

Civil Proceedings

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of potential steps to increase provision of (a) court time and (b) relevantly skilled members of the judiciary to ensure the timely management of legal proceedings on complex planning disputes.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The Planning Court was established in 2014 and has greatly increased the speed in which planning cases are dealt with.A dedicated cadre of lawyers and judiciary have been appointed to deal expediently with all significant planning cases.The Criminal Courts and Justice Act 2015 introduced a permission stage in applications for statutory review, to remove unmeritorious statutory challenges to planning decisions as early as possible.Current statistical data shows that the average time taken for a planning case to be dealt with in the Planning Court has reduced from 46.9 weeks in February 2014 to 25.9 weeks in March 2016.

Offenders: Homelessness

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people released from prison into homelessness.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to paragraph 4.53 of the report on an unannounced inspection of HM Prison and Young Offenders Institute Bronzefield by HM Inspector of Prisons, published in November 2015, what steps his Department is taking in response to the finding that people who were released from prison with nowhere to go had been given tents and sleeping bags by the prison and its chaplaincy.

Andrew Selous: As part of our probation reforms we now provide unprecedented support for offenders to make sure all receive support on release, including those sentenced to less than 12 months. While we work extremely closely with each offender before and after release to give them the support they need to find accommodation, the responsibility for making sure there is housing available ultimately lies with the local authority. All prisoners meet regularly with their offender manager after release, and efforts are made to help find emergency accommodation where needed. All prisoners receive a resettlement plan, including help to find somewhere to live following release, and any specialist referrals required.

Employment Tribunals Service: Fees and Charges

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have had employment tribunal fees waived or reduced in each year since the introduction of such fees.

Mr Shailesh Vara: This information is published and available within the Ministry of Justice Official Tribunal Statistics and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics.

Employment Tribunals Service

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many tribunals relating to (a) sexual discrimination and (b) each other matter have been brought against employers in each of the last five years; and how many such claims have been successful.

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of employment tribunal claims were successful in each of the last five years.

Mr Shailesh Vara: Information on the number of tribunal claims relating to sexual discrimination and other matters brought against employers and the proportion of successful claims in each of the last five years can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics#employment-tribunal-and-employment-appeal-tribunal-statistics-gb.

Post-mortems

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken for a post-mortem was in (a) Birmingham and (b) England in the last 12 months.

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many post-mortems were performed in Birmingham in 2015.

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many deceased people were authorised for burial by coroners in Birmingham (a) within (i) 24, (ii) between 24 and 48 and (iii) 72 hours and (b) after more than (A) five and (B) seven days in the last year.

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what resources his Department has allocated to Birmingham Coroner's Office in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: Operational responsibility for coroner services, including allocating resources, is the responsibility of local authorities. The Ministry of Justice does not collect information about the time taken for coroner post mortem examinations, or the number of coroners’ authorisations for burial. Statistics for 2015 in relation to deaths reported to coroners, including the number of post mortem examinations carried out in the Birmingham and Solihull coroner area, will be published shortly at www.gov.uk/government/collections/coroners-and-burials-statistics

Church Commissioners

Community Relations

Karl McCartney: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on the Near Neighbours programme.

Mrs Caroline Spelman: The Church Commissioners welcome the Government’s recent announcement of a further £1.5 million for the Near Neighbours programme, which is administered by the Church Urban Fund. This third round of funding for Near Neighbours will help it build on its successful track record of delivering projects up and down the country to transform local areas by strengthening relationships between those of different religious and ethnic backgrounds on issues of shared concern.The Near Neighbours programme has offered small grants between £250 and £5,000, providing seed capital for local groups and organisations who are working to bring together neighbours, to develop relationships across diverse faiths and ethnicities in order to improve their communities. The Near Neighbours grants fund has so far awarded seed capital worth £3.66m to over 1,120 projects. These projects have impacted the lives of 941,000 people and 71% of projects have continued to run after the initial seed capital was spent. All Near Neighbours projects are designed to change hearts and minds by bringing together different communities within a neighbourhood so that they can work together on issues of shared concern and common values.More information on Near Neighbours can be found on its website at: https://www.cuf.org.uk/how-we-help/near-neighbours

Ministry of Defence

Air Displays: Farnborough

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the Farnborough International Airshow due to take place in July 2016.

Mr Philip Dunne: Farnborough International Air Show is an important event which supports UK defence industry seeking to trade internationally and offers valuable defence engagement opportunities with our allies and partners. The support to the Farnborough International Air Show 2016 will be delivered through the course of normal departmental business and in-line with existing budgetary provisions. Any additional costs will be recouped in line with standard practices.

Arms Trade: Trade Fairs

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on the Defence and Security Equipment International Conference held in September 2015.

Mr Philip Dunne: Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) is an important event which supports the UK defence industry seeking to trade internationally and offers valuable defence engagement opportunities with our allies and partners. The support to DSEI 2015 was delivered through the course of normal departmental business and in-line with existing budgetary provisions. Any additional costs were recouped in line with standard practices

Armed Forces: Complaints

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that (a) some complaints first processed by the Service Complaints Commissioner in 2008 remain open and (b) other referrals by the Service Complaints Commissioner have been outstanding for over a year.

Mark Lancaster: The Service Complaints Ombudsman acknowledges in the Annual Report 2015 that the Services' commitment during 2015 to resolve complaints that were raised before 2014, resulted in a reduction in their number of around 50%. The Ombudsman acknowledges that in some cases there is just cause for delay, but where her investigations under her new powers find that delay was unjustified and avoidable the Ministry of Defence will learn the lessons as part of its commitment to achieving a service complaints process that is fair, effective and efficient.

Military Bases: Security

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25082, how many unauthorised entries were recorded in relation to each of the bases listed in the Answer; what form of unauthorised entries were recorded in each case; which cases were investigated by (a) the Ministry of Defence Police, (b) a military police force and (c) a local civilian police force; and which such investigations led to a prosecution.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) treats all unauthorised entries to military bases very seriously. They are investigated to a level commensurate with their complexity and impact by Military Police, MOD Police or local constabulary.A breakdown of unauthorised entries to military bases recorded within the MOD for 2015 is set out in the attached table. None of these incidents resulted in any significant ramifications for Defence security.In drafting the answer to these questions, it has become apparent that the answer to Question 24141 was incorrect, understating the number of unauthorised entries to military bases in 2015 by one, the correct number is 45; a second security incident of this category occurred at MOD Lyneham. The information has been corrected in this answer.



Military Bases Security
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Military Bases: Security

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 33821, how many unauthorised entries were recorded in relation to each of the bases listed in that Answer; what form of unauthorised entries were recorded in each case; which cases were investigated by (a) the Ministry of Defence Police, (b) a military police force and (c) a local civilian police force; and which such investigations led to a prosecution.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) treats all unauthorised entries to military bases very seriously. They are investigated to a level commensurate with their complexity and impact by Military Police, MOD Police or local constabulary.A breakdown of unauthorised entries to military bases recorded within the MOD for 2014 is set out in the attached table. None of these incidents resulted in any significant ramifications for Defence security.In drafting the answer to this question, it has become apparent that the answers to Questions 24141 and 33821 were incorrect, understating the number of unauthorised entries to military bases in 2014 by one, the correct number is 25, and in the list of the locations of such security incidents, RAF Leeming was omitted. The information has been corrected in this answer.



Military Bases Security
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Armed Forces: Complaints

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he last had discussions with the Chief of the Defence Staff on the need to improve response times to complaints from serving officers; and what was agreed in that discussion.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the findings of the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what steps he is taking to reduce the reluctance of service personnel to raise complaints through the service complaints system.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the findings of the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of the Service Complaints Commissioner among junior members of the armed forces.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the findings of the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what steps he is taking to reduce the reluctance of service personnel who claim to have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination to make a formal complaint.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what steps he is taking in response to the finding on page 2 of that Report that the most common reasons for not submitting a complaint given by service personnel who claim to have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination were that nothing would be done and that complaining would adversely affect the career of the potential complainant.

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Annual Report 2015 of the Service Complaints Ombudsmen for the Armed Forces, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that female personnel in the armed forces are approximately 30 per cent more likely than their male counterparts to lodge a complaint with the Service Complaints Commissioner.

Mark Lancaster: The Service Complaints Ombudsman's annual report for 2015 was published on 25 April 2016. Whilst there are no recommendations in this year's report, given the introduction of a reformed complaints system and a fundamentally new Ombudsman role, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is curently considering the report in detail to see what lessons there are for the complaints process or wider policies.The aim of the reforms introduced on 1 January 2016 is to address long-standing concerns raised by the Service Complaints Commissioner that confidence in the system has been affected by complexity which has led to delay and by a lack of strong independnet and effective oversight. Such a lack of confidence can in turn leave our personnel reluctant to raise issues and so have them resolved. The new process is streamlined, and Service personnel will now be able to approach the new Service Complaints Ombudsman if they are dissatisfied, which will make a real difference for individuals. The Ombudsman has significant new powers to hold the MOD to account for fair, effective and efficient complaints handllng. The Ombudsman comments in her report that she is hopeful that the new system will make a real impact on confidence levels. The MOD shares that view, and looks forward to the Ombudsman's 2016 report for her assessment of whether the aims are being achieved.It is important that all Service personnel know where to get information about how to make a service complaint, as well as about the role of the new Service Complaints Ombudsman and how to contact her. We will take further steps to communicate as widely as possible through appropriate channels the role of the new Ombudsman, particularly to junior personnel, which will supplement and support the visits undertaken and communication material produced by the Ombudsman.Bullying, harassment and discrimination are not tolerated in the Armed Forces. Tackling such behaviour depends on our Service personnel having confidence that the complaints system will deal with their concerns appropriately and will treat them fairly. The Service Complaints Ombudsman will hold the MOD to account for how it handles complaints and how it treats its Service personnel under the complaints process. It is by raising complaints and approaching the Ombudsman if they are dissatisfied that complainants can ensure that the MOD is openly held to account. It is also through the Ombudsman's recommendations that the MOD can identify where action needs to be taken to improve.The finding by the Service Complaints Ombudsman that proportionately more women feel moved to make a Service complaint than their male colleagues is a concern. The Ombudsman goes on to commend the work that is being done by the Army in particular, where the issue is the most acute, to tackle this. The initiatives that she sets out in the report are continuing.It is the responsibility of all those involved in the service complaints process to ensure complaints are handled effectively and efficiently. All complaints are to be dealt with promptly but fairly, regardless of the complainant's rank or whether they are still serving. There have been no discussions with the Chief of the Defence Staff on the issues raised.

Armed Forces: Pay

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release, A new pay model for the Armed Forces, published on 7 January 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the reformed pay structure on the number of complaints about terms and conditions received through the service complaints process.

Mark Lancaster: The changes associated with the new Armed Forces pay model have been extensively communicated, both prior to and since their announcement in January. These communications are expected to address a significant proportion of the questions and concerns that might otherwise have been raised as service complaints. Whilst it is impossible to predict how many service complaints might be raised, planning is in place for a means of dealing with them if they do arise in volume in a way that is fair, effective and efficient and does not overwhelm the system.

Veterans

David Mackintosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will establish an office within his Department with a focus on assisting UK military veterans in terms of housing, health, employment, pensions and other needs.

Mark Lancaster: As I stated on 24 March 2016 during a debate in the House (Official Report, columns 1865-74) the concept of such an office, while well-intentioned, would duplicate existing provision. We already have strong cross-Government support for veterans from the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as other Departments. In addition, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) operates Veterans UK which focuses on the provision of pensions, compensation and welfare support for veterans.The Armed Forces Covenant is designed to stop the Armed Forces community facing disadvantage and provides an effective mechanism to connect the various stakeholders who have an interest in supporting our community. The Covenant Reference Group brings together all relevant Departments and Devolved Administrations in a way that a single agency or Ministry could not. In addition, the Defence Secretary ensures that the MOD publishes an annual report to Parliament to communicate the delivery of our Covenant commitments.

Department for Work and Pensions

Adoption: Self-employed

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing an adoption allowance for self-employed adopters.

Priti Patel: The Government is looking at what more could be done to support the self-employed, but do not have plans to introduce an adoption allowance for self-employed adopters.

Grandparents: Parental Responsibility

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to protect the pensions of grandparents that care for grandchildren.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department offers to grandparents that care for grandchildren.

Justin Tomlinson: From 6 April 2011 a weekly Class 3 National Insurance credit is available to grandparents and other adult family members under State Pension age that look after children aged under 12 to enable the children’s parents to work. The credits can help protect the grandparent’s National Insurance record and will count towards entitlement to the new State Pension and (before 6 April 2017), Bereavement Benefits. Since its introduction in 2011, over 4,000 people have been approved. In addition, support is available through income-related benefits to grandparents of working age who have responsibility for their grandchildren or act in the place of the child’s parents. The Government announced its intention to exempt grandparents, and other family members or close friends, looking after children, who could otherwise be at risk of entering the care system, from the restriction which limits the child element of Universal Credit to a maximum of two children. The Government is committed to working with stakeholders to develop a solution that meets the needs of the children in respect of whom this exemption is intended to apply, whilst guarding against the risk of fraud and error Universal Credit recipients who are grandparents can have childcare costs reimbursed. Where a firm job offer has been accepted childcare costs can be claimed for at least one month before they start work and after the employment ends. The childcare costs element is intended to protect work incentives and ensures that support is focused on low-earning families.

Grandparents: Parental Responsibility

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to offer childcare services to grandparents that care for grandchildren.

Priti Patel: The Government recognises the crucial role that working grandparents play in providing childcare and supporting working families. We have therefore announced plans to extend shared parental leave and pay to working grandparents, and will consult on these later this month. In addition, all grandparents who are the kinship or responsible carers for children are already able to access a universal free early education entitlement place for any three or four year old in their care, and grandparents may also be able to access a free early education place for any two year old in their care if they are eligible.

Universal Credit

Owen Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to universal credit, what his estimate is of Government spending on transitional protection where entitlement is lower in each year until 2018-19.

Priti Patel: Our estimates of Government spending on transitional protection over the Spending Review period are: £120 million in 2018/19. The national implementation of managed migration is not planned to start before June 2018, and so transitional protection will not start until then.

Motability

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of 23 February 2016, Official Report, column 82WH, on the Motability car scheme, whether the ability to walk 20 metres is one of the assessment criteria for enhanced mobility.

Justin Tomlinson: As with all the activities, a claimant should be assessed as satisfying a descriptor only if the reliability criteria have been fully considered. The reliability criteria are a key protection for claimants being assessed for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and are a new introduction that did not apply under Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Claimants who cannot walk 20 metres reliably are guaranteed to receive the enhanced rate mobility component. PIP has also introduced a new criteria around the ability to plan and follow a journey, which is designed to recognise the mobility challenges of non-physical conditions and ensure these claimants also have access to the highest level of support where appropriate. Further information on how the reliability criteria should be applied can be found in the PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments. This guidance can be accessed on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449043/pip-assessment-guide.pdf

Social Fund

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target time is for processing applications to the Social Fund; and what performance was against that target in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Justin Tomlinson: There is no overall target or performance data for the Social Fund as they vary depending on each of the individual programmes.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target time is for processing applications made to the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Fund; and what performance was against that target in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Justin Tomlinson: Please see the table below showing the target time for processing applications for the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) and the Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) against that target. Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit - Claims2013-142014-152015-16IIDB - target55.053.050.0IIDB - performance (AACT)53.752.439.0 Notes The data has been measured using the AACT this measures the average number of Working Days (excludes weekends and English Bank Holidays) between an application being made and the date the customer was notified of the decision on their claim. The data refers to the period from 1st April to 31st March each year. Source Department for Work and Pensions – IIDB Claims Tracker - Management Information Statistics. This is a Departmental performance management, data capture and reporting tool. This type of internal management information does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice.

Social Fund

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35019, on social fund, for what reasons management information is only held from 2013.

Justin Tomlinson: Pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 the information previously provided was extracted from the current live Operational Activity Based Management Information System. The information from 2010 until 2013 is not readily available as it is archived. However we have now been able to extract the historical data which is displayed in the table below.   2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/16Bereavement Benefit145130116106948478Maternity Allowance108827775706672Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit309243241226192166148Social Fund4321248019681552798411349  Notes: The table above shows average Full Time Equivalent for each financial year from April to March. Source: Jobcentre Plus Activity Based Management System (L1A) and Operational Activity Based Management Information System (L1A)

Funeral Payments

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35018, how many funeral expense payments were processed by his Department in 2015-16; and what proportion of such applications were processed within (a) 15, (b) 20 and (c) 25 working days.

Justin Tomlinson: For 2015/16 the Department processed 45,467 applications for Funeral Expense Payments with 69.7% cleared within 15 working days and 83.4% cleared within 20 working days. We are unable to provide data on how many applications were processed within 25 working days as the Management Information system that the Department uses for Funeral Expenses does not provide this level of detail. Source: Number processed - Department for Work and Pensions – Management Information System Program (MISP) - Management Information Portal % processed - Department for Work and Pensions – Office Print Report Tool (OPRT) - Management Information Statistics

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband: South West

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to paragraph 1.330 of Budget 2016, how much of the £14.5 million in grants for extending the coverage of ultrafast broadband in the South West will be spent on tackling broadband blackspots in Cheltenham.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Gloucestershire and Herefordshire County Councils (Fastershire broadband partnership) has been allocated £2 million from the South West ultrafast broadband fund. Fastershire are responsible for setting local coverage priorities and spending funds in line with procurement rules, and are undertaking new procurements with uncommitted funding from the Phase 2 Superfast Broadband Programme to address as many as the remaining non-served areas within the two counties as possible.

Television: Licensing

Jo Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the fairness of the (a) licence fee and (b) initial overcharge for those paying the licence fee by direct debit.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The BBC's funding has been a central issue in the Charter Review process, and this has included consideration of the fairness and affordability of the licence fee, and the ways in which it can be paid. David Perry QC’s independent report on TV Licence Fee Enforcement highlighted that current payment plans, set out in regulations, inhibit the ability of TV Licensing to help those on lower incomes by offering alternative, more manageable payment schemes. The conclusions of his report have been considered as part of the wider Charter Review process, and the government's position on these issues will be set out in the forthcoming White Paper.

Football: Tickets

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what enforcement action is being taken by (a) the police and (b) Trading Standards against secondary ticketing operators offering tickets for the UEFA European Football Championships for sale through their websites to customers based in the UK; and under what legislation such action is being taken.

David Evennett: The Police are responsible for enforcing the football ticketing provisions of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 that apply to England and Wales. Trading Standards Services are responsible for enforcing the secondary ticketing provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and other relevant consumer protection legislation. Suspected or actual breaches of such legislation should first be reported via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, following which Citizens Advice may refer cases to Trading Standards Services for appropriate action. The Government does not hold information centrally on the use of these enforcement powers or the number of penalties issued.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Private Rented Housing: Electricity

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will issue guidance to the private rented sector on the issuing of rental contracts that prohibit tenants from switching electricity suppliers.

Brandon Lewis: The Government has issued guidance to the sector on the rights of tenants in choosing their own energy supplier in the form of a factsheet published by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) in September 2013 which is available online at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/83161/tenancyrightsfactsheetenglishweb.pdfThe factsheet makes it clear that under Ofgem rules, if a tenant is directly responsible for paying the electricity bill, they have the right to choose their own energy supplier and the landlord or letting agent should not unreasonably prevent this. A tenant is still entitled to switch supplier even if there is a default supplier clause in their tenancy agreement.The only circumstance where a landlord has the right to choose the energy supplier is when they are directly responsible for paying for the gas or electricity. This arrangement would be made clear in the tenancy agreement signed by the tenant.

Floods: European Union Solidarity Fund

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the progress of the EU Solidarity Fund application to help people affected by flooding.

James Wharton: The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February. The Department for Communities and Local Government is in regular discussions with the devolved administrations, local authorities and other government departments including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, as we work to refine our cost estimates and figures.

Communities and Local Government: Hotels

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of hotel bookings made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois: Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives. The total Departmental cost for hotels in the last five years was £994,848.01, or on average just under £200,000 per annum. We do not hold figures for the estimated costs for hotel bookings, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Communities and Local Government: Taxis

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the total cost to his Department of taxi journeys made by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois: Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives and other departmental business. Travel and subsistence costs are published annually in the departmental accounts. We do not hold figures for the estimated costs for taxi journeys undertaken, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Disabled Facilities Grants

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Disabled Facilities Grants were not progressed as a result of families not being able to afford adaptations in cases in which the cost of adaptation exceeded the grant amount in 2014 and 2015; and if he will estimate the number of such grants that will not be progressed in 2016 for that reason.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect data on the number of Disabled Facilities Grants which are not progressed where the cost of the adaptations exceed the grant limit of £30,000 per applicant. Local authorities can provide additional top-up funding which can be used to fund adaptations where the cost exceeds the grant limit per applicant.

Communities and Local Government: Hotels

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2015 to Question 35420, how many hotel bookings were made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois: Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives. A total of 10,725 hotel bookings, or slightly over 2,000 per annum, were made in the last 5 years. We do not hold figures for the costs incurred for hotel bookings, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Communities and Local Government: Taxis

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 35419, how many taxi journeys were made by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials of his Department in each of the last five years.

Mr Mark Francois: Ministers, special advisers and civil servants in this department undertake a variety of visits to support the delivery of Government’s objectives and other departmental business. We do not hold figures for the number of taxi journeys undertaken, broken down in the format requested and this can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Scotland Office

Alexander Thomson

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what plans his Department has to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Alexander Thomson in 2017.

David Mundell: Alexander “Greek” Thomson is one of the most important and original architects of the nineteenth century. Many of his exceptional neo-classical buildings still grace the city of Glasgow, which was Thomson’s home from boyhood. One such is ‘Holmwood,’ in the hon Member’s constituency, which is described by the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture as ‘a sumptuous villa at once Classical and Picturesque.’ While I am not aware of any formal plans to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Thomson’s birth, my officials have been in touch with various organisations to discuss the bicentenary, and I would be happy to meet the hon Member to discuss any suggestions he has.

HM Treasury

Non-domestic Rates

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made a recent estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of exempting plant and machinery from the calculation of business rates.

Mr David Gauke: The government has carefully considered the case for exempting plant and machinery from business rates. However, there would also be fundamental operational challenges to delivering an exemption on account of the way in which the plant and machinery is embedded in the premises concerned, making its exclusion from the calculation more difficult. The government will continue to incentivise investment through better targeted measures, such as the Annual Investment Allowance and Research and Development Tax credits, and through the reductions in the rate of Corporation tax that are in place and that have been announced.

Credit

Chris Evans: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the extension of real-time data sharing to the whole consumer credit market.

Chris Evans: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of extending real time data sharing to the whole consumer credit market on the level of consumer debt in each of the next three years.

Chris Evans: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the economic benefit of extending real-time data sharing to the whole consumer credit market.

Harriett Baldwin: HM Treasury does not hold information on the effect that sharing data in real time across the whole consumer credit market would have on consumer debt levels, or on wider economic conditions. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has regular discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on a wide variety of issues. In line with the practice of previous Administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed.

First Time Buyers: Loans

Danny Kinahan: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to reduce the obstacles to first-time house-buyers due to their outstanding student loans.

Harriett Baldwin: The Government is committed to making the aspiration of home ownership a reality for as many households as possible. The Government has announced a series of measures which will help people become homeowners, including plans to deliver 200,000 Starter Homes, 135,000 Shared Ownership homes and the Help to Buy: ISA, through which the Government tops up mortgage deposit savings for first time buyers by up to £3,000. The Government has also announced the creation of the Lifetime ISA, which will help young people save flexibly towards a first home and retirement at the same time. The Council for Mortgage Lenders advise that a student loan is very unlikely to materially impact on an individual’s ability to get a mortgage.This is because it is only repayable when a borrower’s income is over £21,000.

Government Departments: Procurement

Mhairi Black: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which (a) PFI contracts and (b) other large contracts between the Government and private bodies have been renegotiated since  May 2010.

Greg Hands: There are over 700 operational PFI contracts across the UK, the large majority of which are managed and operated by local authorities, NHS trusts and the devolved governments. There is no requirement for any contracting authority to notify HM Treasury of contract renegotiations and, as a result, we do not hold the information requested.

Climate Change Levy

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2015 to Question 35437, what the average length of time was recommended by respondents to his Department's informal consultation on removing the climate change levy renewables exemption in answer to Question 3 of that consultation on transitional arrangements.

Damian Hinds: At Autumn Statement 2015 it was announced that a transitional period for electricity suppliers to apply the Climate Change Levy exemption on renewably-sourced electricity generated before 1 August 2015 would end on 31 March 2018. Question 3 of the informal consultation asked about the length of time for the transitional period. Some respondents suggested an end date, and others a time period without specific dates. The small sample and varied responses mean it is not possible to provide an average from this information.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Energy

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to publish the recommendations of the Bonfield Review of consumer advice, protection, standards and enforcement for energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Andrea Leadsom: The Bonfield Review is due to report back its findings later this year.We are confident that the Bonfield Review will provide a real opportunity to put energy efficiency and renewable energy on a more consumer-focussed and sustainable long-term path for the future.

Cabinet Office

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what spending will be incurred on the EU referendum for each of the proposed lines of expenditure.

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the budget available to the Government is to spend on the EU referendum for each expenditure line and expenditure type.

Karl McCartney: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 14 April 2016 to Questions 33531 and 33450, what total budget has been set aside by the Government to promote its position on the EU Referendum; how much of that budget has been spent; and how much future spending is planned until 23 June 2016.

John Penrose: Holding answer received on 04 May 2016



The Government published details of the cost of the production, distribution and publication of its EU Referendum leaflet and associated website on 6th April 2016. The Government continues to take forward its policy on the full range of European business, including the Referendum, as part of the normal work of Departments. Departments will account for expenditure in the normal way, through Annual Report and Accounts.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

William Wragg: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what (a) polling, (b) focus groups and (c) other research the Government has commissioned on the EU referendum since 1 January 2015; and what the cost to the public purse of all such research has been to date.

John Penrose: Holding answer received on 04 May 2016



All costs associated with the planning of referendum public information activity are contained within the costs published on 6th April (2016). Cabinet Office asked independent polling company TNS to carry out a survey in March (2016). This poll found showed that 85% of the public wanted more information on the EU referendum from the Government. TNS published this poll on their website.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Clean Air Zones

Mr Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to extend Clean Air Zones to more cities.

Rory Stewart: The Air Quality Plan we published last December set out a comprehensive plan for reducing levels of nitrogen dioxide through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies. We are working closely with the cities of Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton, where we are requiring Clean Air Zones to be introduced. Other local authorities can introduce Clean Air Zones should they wish to do so using their powers under the Transport Act 2000. We will consult on a framework for Clean Air Zones later this year which will set out the important principles that need to be consistent from city to city. Setting out the principles in this way will support both those authorities required by Government to implement a Clean Air Zone and those who, after analysing their own situation, consider a Clean Air Zone to be an appropriate measure to bring in.

Carbon Emissions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department's 25-year food and farming plan will contribute to delivering the Government's emissions reduction plan.

George Eustice: The Food and Farming Plan will explore the role of technology in reducing emissions through improved feed efficiency, among other issues. It will also set out how we will work with industry to deliver emissions reductions across the rest of the food chain, including supporting the Courtauld 2025 objective of reducing food and drink emissions by 20% between 2015 and 2025.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Carbon Emissions

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2016 to Question 32143, how many full-time equivalent officials in her Department have been working on the Government's emissions reduction plan to date; and what work those officials have done towards the Plan so far.

Rory Stewart: The Department of Energy and Climate Change is leading work across Government to prepare the Emissions Reduction Plan. The development of policies and proposals to reduce greenhouse gases emissions is an integral part of the work of a number of staff across Defra working on many areas including forestry, farming, recycling and resource efficiency among others. This is facilitated by a small coordination team. We do not keep a record of the staff time spent on the Emissions Reduction Plan because it is impracticable to separate it out from this wider work.

Neonicotinoids

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34699, when her Department expects to (a) receive advice from the UK Export Committee on Pesticides about the two applications for emergency authorisation for the use of neonicotinoids and (b) make a decision on whether to grant such authorisation.

George Eustice: The UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP) considered these applications at its meeting on 4 May. I expect to receive its advice shortly. The decision on whether or not to grant the authorisations will be made once the ECP and other experts have concluded their examination of the applications and the Government has received and considered their findings.

Agriculture: UK Membership of EU

Roger Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on farmers of the UK leaving the EU.

Rory Stewart: 60% of our food and drink exports go to the EU; this is worth £11 billion to our economy. This is a vital income for UK farmers and fishermen. If we were to leave the EU, exporters would face crippling tariffs when selling their goods to Europe, such as up to 70% for beef products, which would cost around £240 million per year.

Department of Health

Out-patients

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to collect data on (a) the number of patients who are required to return to hospital for a review or follow-up out-patient appointment or procedure and (b) the length of time between such patients' initial appointment and that review or follow-up appointment.

Jane Ellison: Such data are already collected in Hospital Episode Statistics, a data warehouse managed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre that includes details of all admissions and outpatient appointments at National Health Service and independent sector hospitals in England. A summary report of the data published for 2014-15 is at:http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19608/hosp-outp-acti-2014-15-summ-repo-rep.pdfInformation on length of time between first and follow-up appointments has not been published because there are no national standards for the appropriate intervals, which will vary between different services or specialties, and between individual patients, depending on the severity of the condition and clinical decision making.

Tonsils: Surgery

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many tonsillectomy operations were carried out in England in the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the form requested. A count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary or secondary procedure of tonsillectomy from 2010-11 to 2014-15 is below. Equivalent data for 2015-16 is not yet available, and a small number of tonsillectomy procedures are performed in outpatient settings which are not included in these figures. YearFCEs2010-1148,0732011-1247,3422012-1348,8082013-1452,5362014-1552,595 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre. Note: An FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.

Dementia: Health Services

David Mackintosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people diagnosed with dementia have access to appropriate treatment and support.

Jane Ellison: Dementia is a key priority for the government. That is why in February 2015, the Prime Minister launched his new Challenge on Dementia 2020 to make sure that dementia care, support, awareness and research are transformed by 2020. The Challenge Implementation Plan, published in March 2016, set out the actions partners across health and care will take to ensure commitments in the 2020 Challenge are delivered. These include:― every person diagnosed with dementia having meaningful care following their diagnosis, which supports them and those around them;― information made available locally on post-diagnosis services and how these can be accessed;― access to relevant advice and support to help and advice on what happens after a diagnosis and the support available through the journey; and― carers of people with dementia being made aware of and offered the opportunity for respite, education, training, emotional and psychological support so that they feel able to cope with their caring responsibilities and to have a life alongside caring. Alongside the Implementation Plan the Department has published, together with key dementia stakeholders, a “Joint Declaration on Post-Diagnostic Dementia Care and Support”. This sets out the key principles of good quality post-diagnostic care for people with dementia. All partners across the health and social care system are working to deliver services in line with the Joint Declaration and Implementation Plan.

Cancer: Drugs

Danny Kinahan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on granting that Institute the power to be able to approve cancer drugs for use off-license.

George Freeman: Clinicians can prescribe any treatment, including an unlicensed product or a product not licensed for a particular indication, which they consider the best available medicine to meet the individual clinical needs of their patient, subject to their primary care organisation agreeing to fund this treatment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) already produces Evidence Summaries which critically review the best available evidence for significant uses of unlicensed or off-label medicines. They help commissioners and clinicians to make evidence-based prioritisation, treatment and funding decisions where there are no clinically-appropriate licensed alternatives. Ensuring that patients get timely access to any new treatment, including off-label medicines in new indications, is complex and the Department is committed to working with stakeholders including NICE, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the General Medical Council, patient and professional groups, and charities to co-ordinate activities and set plans in place that will make this easier. This includes work to look at more systematic inclusion of off-label uses of drugs in the British National Formulary and development of case studies looking at re-purposed medicines and their pathways from research results into clinical practice.Alongside these, the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will, in due course, provide the National Health Service with a newly created database which will provide a mechanism for collecting and sharing information on innovative treatments including off-label drugs and medicines in development. Now that the Act has received Royal Assent the work to implement its provisions can begin.

NHS

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS agencies have changed their name or merged in the last (a) 12 and (b) 24 months; and what the cost was to the public purse of such mergers and name changes.

Ben Gummer: No National Health Service arm’s length bodies have merged or changed their name in the last 24 months. As of 1 April 2016, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) have been working under a shared leadership and operating framework as NHS Improvement. However, Monitor and the TDA have not formally merged. They continue to operate in line with their current legal underpinnings as two separate entities. In order to ensure that all NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts have access to the same kinds of support and interventions there will be much more alignment between the two organisations so that they can deliver what patients and taxpayers have a right to expect. As at the end of March, the cost associated with the recruitment of NHS Improvement’s Chief Executive and designing and supporting NHS Improvement’s new structure and operating model has been £655,190. There may have been other costs associated with the alignment of the two organisations but these have been absorbed in their baseline funding allocations.

Alcoholic Drinks: Consumption

Kelly Tolhurst: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular and cognitive health.

Jane Ellison: The UK Chief Medical Officers have made an assessment of the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on cardiovascular and cognitive health as part of their review of the alcohol guidelines. The advice that the UK Chief Medical Officers give on how the public can limit their risks from drinking alcohol can be found on Gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/health-risks-from-alcohol-new-guidelines

Junior Doctors: Conditions of Employment

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 84 of the Equality Analysis on the new contract for doctors and dentists in training in the NHS, published in March 2016, whether his Department plans to accept the recommendation for amendment of the draft new junior doctor contract to address the position of part-time doctors and advance equality of opportunity between women and men doctors; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer: Yes. This is explicit in paragraph 60 of Schedule 2 of the Terms and Conditions of Service published by NHS Employers on 31 March 2016.In addition amendments have also been made to the provision for on-call availability with respect to doctors working less than full-time, transitional arrangements have been amended so that doctors who take approved time out of training are not disadvantaged on return to training and so that those doctors who have not completed their training by the end of the transition period (2019/20), because they are working less than full time, or need to take an approved break from training can have the transitional protection period extended by up to three years until August 2022.

Social Services: Finance

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to local authority social care budgets on the demand for health services.

Alistair Burt: The Government is aware of the important link between social care and the health service. This is why it has given local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion of new support for adult social care by 2019/20. This should mean local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending by the end of the Parliament. This funding includes an additional £1.5 billion a year for the Better Care Fund by the end of the Parliament.The Better Care Fund creates a local single pooled budget to incentivise the National Health Service and local government to work more closely together, placing people’s wellbeing as the focus of health and care services, and shifting resources into social care and community services for the benefit of the people, communities and health and care systems. Integrated care is the right way to deliver a sustainable health and social care system that can provide better quality care and improve outcomes for individuals.

Clinical Psychologists

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the adequacy of the (a) current and (b) future workforce requirements for clinical psychologists under the NHS England transformation plan for achieving the goals of the five-year forward view.

Alistair Burt: Health Education England (HEE) is working with NHS England, Public Health England, professional bodies, charities, experts-by-experience and others to develop and deliver a costed, multi-disciplinary workforce strategy for the future shape and skill mix of the workforce (including clinical psychologists) required to deliver the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s Five Year Forward View and the workforce recommendations set out in Future in Mind. This strategy will deliver the necessary workforce skill mix and capacity to support the core Mental Health Taskforce recommendations for improved access and quality of care. In 2015/16, HEE commissioned 526 training places for clinical psychologists, maintaining its previous level of investment in this staff group.

Clinical Psychologists: Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure adequate levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee clinical psychologists in the 2017-18 cohort.

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what consultations he plans to undertake on the levels of bursaries and salary support for trainee clinical psychologists in the 2017-18 cohort.

Ben Gummer: Health Education England (HEE) funding for trainees in clinical psychology is currently determined at a local level based on local need and is subject to annual workforce planning. For 2016-17, HEE will fund those commissions set out in the HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan for 2016-17. HEE’s plans for training clinical psychologists remain unchanged from 2015-16 with 526 commissions proposed for 2016-17. HEE will set out its plans for 2017-18 training commissions in its next annual Commissioning and Investment Plan or Workforce Plan for England which is expected to be published in December 2016 prior to the start of the financial year. The Government is currently consulting on how the education and funding reforms for pre-registration undergraduate and postgraduate non-medical courses (nursing, midwifery and allied health courses) which are currently funded through both HEE funded tuition and an NHS bursary/reduced rate loan for maintenance are most successfully implemented. Respondents to the consultation may wish to raise issues relating to the funding for courses operating outside of this model, such as clinical psychology training programmes. The Government will consider these in the context of its consultation response.

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in which 15 areas the joint training programme to support lead contacts in mental health services and schools has been tested.

Alistair Burt: The Mental Health Services and Schools Link Pilots is testing a named single point of contact in 255 schools across 22 pilot areas and in local child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), meaning more joined up working between schools and health services. There are more pilot sites than originally proposed as NHS England had more funding available than anticipated.This has been backed by £3 million of government funding. These areas are listed below with indications of those with more than one clinical commissioning group (CCG):- East Riding of Yorkshire- Bedfordshire- Camden- Brighton- Gloucester- Waltham Forest- Walsall- Birmingham (covering three CCGs)- Tower Hamlets- Chiltern (covering two CCGs)- Hammersmith & Fulham- Wigan- Somerset- Tameside and Glossop- Salford- Haringey- Sunderland- Chiltern 2 (Aylesbury Vale)- Hampshire- Halton- East and North Hertfordshire- Sheffield- South and East Cheshire (two CCGs)

Autism

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 1424, Autism awareness.

Alistair Burt: Since the Early Day Motion was tabled on 26 April, Autism Awareness has been the subject of a full debate on 28 April 2016, Official Report, columns 1574-1630 having been selected for this by the Backbench Business Committee. The Department has promoted the awareness work of the National Autistic Society since its launch during World Autism Awareness week, alongside that which the Department is funding through the Autism Alliance UK, a network of autism charities. This is encouraging local organisations to become Autism Champions by making public commitments to train their staff in autism awareness. A total of £325,000 has been invested in this work and the next step is to evaluate and take stock of the outcomes and achievements. In the meantime our approach is to focus on work with specific groups on awareness such as general practitioners through the Royal College of General Practitioner’s Autism Initiative.

NHS: Disclosure of Information

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will place in the Library copies of internal communications, meeting notes and memoranda relating to the resignations of the National Guardian and interim deputy National Guardian for whistleblowers.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the reasons were for the resignation of the interim deputy National Guardian for whistleblowers.

Ben Gummer: To obtain and collate copies of internal communications, meeting notes and memoranda relating to the resignations of the National Guardian and the interim deputy National Guardian for whistleblowers would incur disproportionate cost. The National Guardian for whistleblowers, Dame Eileen Sills, left her post on 3 March 2016. She had concluded she did not have the capacity to undertake both the role of the National Guardian and that of Chief Nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The Interim Deputy National Guardian, David Bell, who was seconded to the role, has returned to his substantive post. This was thought to be advisable as until a new appointment to the position of National Guardian is made, it is not clear what level of support will be required from a deputy, or indeed if one is required.

Food: Hygiene

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to publicise the hygiene ratings of restaurants and other food outlets in England; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has responsibility for the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. Ratings are published on the FSA’s website (and are available via smart phone apps), and there is open access to the data so that others may use it. Food businesses are also given stickers and are encouraged to display these at their premises where consumers can easily see them.